Naturopathic Doctors Prescribe Medicine Placebos on Occasion

A recent study showed that most traditional physicians and naturopathic doctors prescribe medicine placebos on a regular basis. The practice is not prohibited by medical ethics, but it is discouraged by many professionals in the field.

In the study, over half of the doctors surveyed admitted that they had prescribed a placebo to a patient in the past year. Strictly speaking, a placebo is a sugar pill, or a pill that will have no effect on the patient.

Placebos can also be non-medicinal treatments that have no legitimate medical purpose but may cause the patient to get better because of psychological effects.

For example, another study showed that when patients are told that they are going to receive painkillers, even those who received a placebo demonstrated a release in endorphins, the pleasure chemical, in the brain. Some speculate that naturopathic placebos may work for patients for this reason.